India's record centuries in vain as England take 1-0 lead at Headingley
Leeds/IBNS: India's five centuries from four batters went in vain as England triumphed over India by five wickets in the inaugural Test match at Headingley in Leeds on Tuesday.
India continued with their sloppy fielding and undisciplined bowling helping England chase down the 371-run target set by the visitors on Monday.
Ben Duckett (149 off 170) and Zak Crawley (65 off 126 balls) together slammed 188 runs for the first wicket, almost dashing India's hope to pick 10 wickets on the final day.
Ben Duckett celebrates his hundred in the second innings. Photo: ICC/X
Duckett, who was declared Player of the Match, slammed 21 fours and one six to dislodge the Indian bowling which was heavily dependent on premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah.
Joe Root (unbeaten 53) and wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith (unbeaten 44) helped England to cruise to 373-5 with plenty of overs left for the day.
"I think me and Baz (England coach Brendon McCullum) are a very simple minded pair when it comes to cricket. Obviously everyone knows that cricket is about scoring more runs than the opposition so we just try to keep everything as simple, calm as we possibly can when we are chasing down totals like that," said England captain Ben Stokes after the match.
England- now known for their Bazball cricket- almost neutralised India's 471 in the first innings as the visitors stopped at 465 when their all 10 wickets were exhausted facing the Indian pace battery led by Bumrah's fifer.
India on Monday set 371 as target for the hosts to win riding on KL Rahul's classic 137 and vice-captain Rishabh Pant's 118 on Monday.
However, India's sudden collapse even after Rahul's departure in the second innings much like the inaugural innings proved to be costly as the visitors went down from 333-5 to 364-10.
India also scripted an unwanted record by becoming the first team to lose a Test after scoring five or more individual centuries. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul and Pant were among the centurions.
"It is going to sting us for a while but we believe in bouncing back stronger," Pant, who scored hundred in both the innings, said.
IBNS
Senior Staff Reporter at Northeast Herald, covering news from Tripura and Northeast India.
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